Long-term injury victims Stephen Thomas and Dafydd Lockyer return to the Neath squad but the Welsh All Blacks will be without winger Matthew Nuthall, scorer of 10 tries this season, who suffered a nasty ankle injury after scoring twice in the 22-20 Cup win at Carmarthen last week.
With Wayne Mitchell and Howard Thomas having done replacements duty at the Quins, other than Wales Under-20’s calls, Neath have almost a full complement behind from which to choose.
Up front, prop Johnny Thomas has reported fit and Neath again include young Abercrave recruit Craig Price and Shaun Miles (Ammanford) in the back row where both have created very favourable impressions.
Director of rugby Rowland Phillips, said: “It is pleasing to be able to welcome back more players from injury as the season enters an important phase. At Carmarthen, we created a number of chances and didn’t turn them into points in a generally untidy game and we know that we must be more efficient at Newport who are one of the best sides we’ve played this season.
“They always have a big combative pack while Tom Riley seems to have settled in there as a key performer and we fully expect them to include a couple of Dragons. We have a lot of respect for the only other club to have won the semi-professional title and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing a real top club.”
Neath (From) G.King, J.Spratt, D.Evans, K.James, S.Thomas, D.Lockyer, L.Ford, W.Mitchell, M.James, A.Thomas, H.Thomas, G.James, K.Farrell; P.Jones, A.Howell, N.Downs, C.Mitchell, J.Thomas, G.Price, A.Littlehales, A.James; N.Edwards, E.Evans, H.Pugh, L.Evans, G.Gravell (captain), C.Price, S.Miles, A.N.Other
